Written by Alia Jeraj, @aliaxgrace
Ella Aho took a short break from loading a 25-foot truck full of cut flowers and plants bound for a school fundraiser in South Minneapolis to chat about being part of the small, women-led team at Green Earth Growers. For Ella, loading and unloading trucks is one of the times being a women-run operation sticks out. “I love when delivery drivers come and drop plastic or soil and the truck driver will get out and ask who’s coming to unload the truck,” says Ella. “We tell him, ‘We are!’ They’re always shocked that we don’t have a man that’s coming.” These moments prove to Ella—along with the truck drivers she encounters and all of her customers—that farming is not a gendered occupation. It’s available to anybody who’s willing to do the work.
And the small team at Green Earth Growers is certainly doing the work. For over twenty years the team—Jolea, later joined by Linnea and Ella—has been committed to providing high-quality flowers and plants to their local community. “It’s really exciting to see that the three of us are able to support each other and do it ourselves,” says Ella.
The newest full-time member to the team, Ella’s been with Green Earth Growers for about five years, and the face of the farm at Mill City Farmers Market. A former educator of fifteen years, she’s always liked working with people in retail markets. Ella enjoys seeing familiar faces over the summer and over the years. Though Green Earth Growers started at the market selling cut flowers, a few yeas ago, they were invited to begin selling produce, and this has become an important part of their operation. “We have a really dedicated following of people for flowers, but it’s been nice to expand to bringing food,” says Ella. “Cut flowers are a luxury. It’s nice to be able to provide the food aspect, especially given that it’s fresh and locally grown, and certified naturally grown.”
The team continues to look for better, more sustainable ways of growing their crops. They’ve always been organic, choosing natural fertilizers and netting for pest control over chemical pesticides or herbicides. Lately, they’ve begun to incorporate no-tilling practices into their fields, in an effort to keep the soil’s natural microbiome in place. Last year they found that a row of garlic planted in a no-till plot was much bigger and healthier than a row planted at the same time in a plot that had been tilled. “We have to replicate it,” Ella conceded, and she’s excited about the potential difference the new system could show.
The farm is also starting to utilize more cross-planting techniques, planting flowers and produce amongst each other to help bring pollinators and add nutrients to the soil. Ella’s also excited about a new plan to rotate crops. Rather than planting the same things in the same place every year, they’ve begun to mix it up. The land that Green Earth Growers is on has been used as farm land for longer than the 20 years Jolea has been there, and the soil is rich in nutrients from its past. Moving forward, the team wants to be more thoughtful about where exactly they’re planting crops with respect to the soil’s history.
You can find Green Earth Growers’ cut flowers and produce at the Mill City Farmers Market every Saturday May through October, and you can also get their flowers and produce through a CSA box! While you can buy a share, the farm also offers a worker share—four hours of work at the farm, once a week, in exchange for a box of produce each week. The worker share allows customers to visit the farm, and get a hands-on learning experience. It’s especially a great opportunity “for anyone who’s interested in getting a feel for farm work,” says Ella.
Though they’re excited about produce and growing that part of the business, Green Earth Growers continues to offer plenty of options for their dedicated flower-lovers. They have flower CSA’s throughout spring and summer, and if you have an event coming up, you can buy a DIY flower bucket, full of flowers from their farm picked the day before your event. You can also find their flowers and plants at stores like the Seward Coops and Golden Fig Fine Foods.
Whether it’s cut flowers or fresh produce, the Green Earth Growers team is committed to making sure people can access healthy, safe, clean food, and the little luxuries of cut flowers. They participate in Mill City Farmers Market’s Greens for Good produce gleaning program, and work with Bluebirds and Blooms, donating flowers to people in residential care facilities. It’s all part of their ethos as a team. “It’s very cooperative,” says Ella. “It’s all of us working together to support each other the best we can.”
SALE: This Saturday May 24th, get $5 off $25 on all bedding plants at the Green Earth Growers booth on the Chicago Mall (does not include baskets, patio pots or cut flowers)!
